Clara Bradley Burdette Papers, 1843-1954

Printable guide [HTML]
Request items

Summary

Creators:
Burdette, Clara Bradley, 1855-1954.
Abstract:
This collection contains papers related to the life, activities, and family of Southern California social, business, and philanthropic leader Clara Bradley Burdette (1855-1954). It includes materials on various women's clubs and societies, especially the General Federation of Women's Clubs, California Federation of Women's Clubs, and Alpha Phi Sorority. There are also materials related to Mills College, Syracuse University, California College in China, the Southwest Museum, Trinity Baptist Church in Los Angeles, including manuscripts and sermons by Robert Jones Burdette, and the Republican party.
Extent:
Approximately 50,000 pieces in 163 boxes.
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of letters, manuscripts, diaries, documents, scrapbooks, and photographs related to the life, activities, and family of Clara Bradley Burdette.

It includes materials on various women's clubs and societies, especially the General Federation of Women's Clubs, California Federation of Women's Clubs, and Alpha Phi Sorority.

There are also materials related to Mills College, Syracuse University, California College in China, the Southwest Museum, Trinity Baptist Church in Los Angeles, including manuscripts and sermons by Robert Jones Burdette, and the Republican party.

Significant persons represented in the collection include: Susan B. Anthony (5 pieces), Robert Jones Burdette (948), Harry Chandler (16), Herbert Hoover (37), Lou Henry Hoover (18), Carrie Jacobs-Bond (23), Melville De Lancy Landon (5), Charles Fletcher Lummis (65), John Steven McGroarty (10), Ralph Palmer Merritt (77), Harrison Gray Otis (25), Aurelia Henry Reinhardt (96), James Whitcomb Riley (23), and Caroline M. Seymour Severance (11).

Biographical / historical:

Clara Bradley Burdette (1855-1954) was a Southern California social, business, and philanthropic leader. She attended Syracuse University, where she was a founder of Alpha Phi Sorority in 1872. After the deaths of her first two husbands, Nathaniel Milman Wheeler and Col. Presley C. Baker, she married Robert Jones Burdette (1844-1914), a humorist and lecturer who moved to the ministry after his marriage to Clara in 1899. He founded the Trinity Baptist Church in Los Angeles, and Clara became a leader of women's societies and was founder and first president of the California Federation of Women's Clubs in 1900. She was active in Republican politics (particularly in Herbert Hoover's campaign for the presidency), and she was a trustee of Syracuse University, Mills College, California College in China, Pasadena Hospital, and the Southwest Museum.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Florence A. Walker, 1955 and 1962.
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Website